The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1887-09-23
AQUATIC STREET UHcHINs.
Little Arabs Who Enjoy Themselves 1,
the Rlver.DcfyIur Policemen.

Little Arabs Who Enjoy Themselves 1,
the River-Dcfying Policemen.
Before the ice is out of the river til,
talk begins among the boys of this tow
rs to who shall Ike ''the first in." ANY
body who has not been boy himself vii
not, Of course, understand what it is Il
be ''thc first in" 1t means the first boy
to take swim In the waters of the Nortl
Or East river. By the middle of April
anyway, some boy has laid the founda
ton for rheumatism by taking header
off dock. He may not have stayed il
long, but he has achieved feat as great
as dropping off the Brooklyn bridge.
The first swim, being only for distinc
ton, is not Of long duration. If the boy
| "goes UNDER" or in other words sub
merges himself entirely from the crown
of his head to the soles of his feet, he has
taken the belt for the season. About
twelve seconds is enough for him to 20 tc
the bottom, clutch handful of mud and
come to the surface. When his head pops
up out Of water he blows like porpoisc
and makes straightway for the string
piece of the dock. He pulls himself out
and reserves his exhibition of endurance
under the water or on the surface of the
water for time when it does not seem
as if he had dropped into the tank of the
Business Mems Moderation society in
front Of the post Office, which is loaded
up with ice every morning in order to
give wintry taste to the Croton that
runs out of the faucets during the day.
He is as blue as milestone, his teeth
rattle like loose easement in the wind,
and the cloth trunk, if he has taken the
trouble to put one on, feels in the cutting
air like a piece Of flexible ice around his
loins. AS soon, however, as he has got
his clothes on and run up and down the
dock few times to set his blood in cir
culation, he feels like young Comanche
brave who has lifted hair for the first
time. He goes down on the river front,
around the Battery and up the other, to
let every boy who is perched on scrub
bling post know that he is the earliest
ablutionist.
There are number of free baths sta
toned along the river front, but the wa
ter just outside of them feels different to
any boy from that inside Of them. 1t is
contrary to the city ordinances for any
boy, or anybody else for that matter, to
60 in swimming in the vicinity of any
dock where passengers embark or disem-
bark. 1t is also contrary to the city ordi-
nances for anybody to go into the water
at any point improperly dressed, and as
there can be no change from bathing to
street attire without trarscending the reg
rlation, at least for moment, swimming
in any event puts the swimmer under the
ban of the police. The same spirit that
animates tho bald headed, red headed or
any other headed eagle to fly high and
roost out of tho way of bucllshot--the
desire for freedom and immunity from
'danger-animates the small boy in keep
ing out Of the reach of the blue coated
and brass buttoned minions of the law
when sporting in forbidden water. 1t is
one of tho greatest problems that a po-
iceman ever tried to solve to catch a
small boy in the water when the water is
SO warm that the boy can stay in it with
out the danger of the blood congealing in
his veins and thus filling his system with
icicles.
At this season of the year the young
water dogs can float in the water all day,
which is good deal longer than police
man can stay on watch. The boys have
to go to the open piers to reach the water,
the hands on the covered piers refusing
to have them around. They slide down
the big piles and get on the stringpieces
underneath, where they proceed to dis
robe. A policeman might think he would
have the swimmers at his mercy if he
could get under the pier and obtain pos
session of their clothes. He might be
able to get under the pier, but he would
find obtaining possession of the clothes
different thing. He would be about as
able to work the combination of bank
lock as to find the clothes. The boys
know that to hang their clothes out in
plain sight on the beams would be to in
vite appropriation by the police Or larceny
by the tramps. There are hiding places
under the piers such as only boys are ca
pable of finding out. Holes are formed
by the woodwork built on the piles and
the boys discover them by crooking their
arms around posts and timbers. Then
they dig out the decayed spots in the piles
and poke their clothes down in the aper-
lures, covering them with dirt and rub
bish.
The boys 60 swimming in coveys, and
the more there are of them the more de-
faint they are to the police. A guardian
of the peace may hang loweringly over
the end of the pier and shake his club at
q dozen boys in the water without ex-
citing more than derision from them.
They will put their thumbs to their
noses, wriggle their fingers in the air and
then execute somersault in the water
and disappear toward the bottom. The
newsboys and bootblacks are the most
persistent swimmers. They live around
the docks in summer when they are not
selling papers and polishing leather.
They know all the avenues of escape and
the police find them as slippery as cells.
The good little boys who run away
from Sunday school and from day school,
too, are the ones most apt to be visited by
Just retribution in the shape of police
mans awful grasp. 1t is powerful
enigma to them how the bad boys, who
spend their pennies for cigarettes instead
Of putting them on the collection plate,
escape.-New York World.